Dillon Hader, the grandson of Doug Melby, holds his grandfather's helmet during the funeral service Friday morning at Greeley Wesleyan Church, 3600 22nd Street. Melby served as the Evan's fire marshal from 1984-2010, he passed away Sunday, July 28, at North Colorado Medical Center.

Evans firefighters carry out the casket of former Evans Fire Marshal Doug Melby at the start of the funeral procession Friday morning at the Greeley Wesleyan Church. Melby was also honored by a memorial service at the Evans Community Complex.

A honor guard watches as the flag is folded during Doug Melby's funeral Friday morning at the Greeley Wesleyan Church. The flag was presented to Melby's family in honor of his 44 years of service in the Evans Fire Protection District.

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Just hours before the Evans Fire Protection District was set to honor its first fire marshal with a grand funeral service Friday, the department got the call that a garage was on fire in the middle of the city.

Friends, colleagues and family members of Doug Melby, who served 44 years with the fire department and who passed away Sunday, said Melby was watching over his fellow firefighters — probably in his own mischievous way — as they battled the fire that morning.

“Doug was with us — more than likely laughing at us, getting at us,” said Brian Lee, firefighter and chaplain with the Evans Fire Protection District, who officiated Melby’s funeral service.

About 300 friends, family members and fellow firefighters attended the service at Greeley Wesleyan Church for Melby, 64, who joined the then-volunteer fire department in Evans at 16 and became its first paid employee as fire marshal.

As part of a traditional memorial service, a procession of fire engines, trucks and cars followed one of the original Evans fire engines that carried Melby’s casket from Greeley to Evans. The department had given Melby the old engine No. 1 as a retirement gift in 2010.

“It was a nice, nice send off for him,” said Tom Hamblen, who started as a volunteer firefighter alongside Melby in 1966. “It was pretty important to him.”

Melby followed in his father, former Evans Fire Chief DeLon Melby’s, footsteps. Doug Melby served in many positions, including fire chief, over the course of his career. He also worked as a paid firefighter with the Western Hills Fire Department.

Those who worked with Melby described him as a shining example of what a firefighter should be: dedicated and compassionate.

“Doug taught (new firefighters) what the fire service was all about and how to be a contributing member of the fire department, and I’m really thankful for him,” Evans Fire Chief Warren Jones said.

Lee, who worked with Melby in his rookie year, said one of his first memories was when Melby took him out in an engine and told him to drive. Lee said rookies aren’t normally allowed to drive, and he was nervous, especially when he had to go over a narrow bridge. Lee said Melby gave him solid encouragement — with a signature side of jeering when he was driving slowly.

“He told me I wouldn’t have you there if I didn’t believe you could do it,” Lee said.

Melby married wife Sherry — who served as Evans mayor — on April 1, 1976. As Lee told it, Melby wanted to get married April Fools’ Day so he wouldn’t forget his anniversary. The couple had two daughters, Michelle Shaffer and Nikki Hader.

Shaffer said growing up, she remembers that her father was completely dedicated to the service of others. She said she’s proud of her father’s service to the community.

“He missed many birthdays and anniversaries and walked out on dinners to go save someone else’s life,” Shaffer said.

Hader said in a letter to her father, which Lee read aloud, that her father even kept his pager on during her entire wedding.

Shaffer, who said she was always a daddy’s girl, said her favorite memories of her dad were fishing and hunting with him, especially on their trips to Canada with their family friends, the Premer’s. Shaffer said her father had a hand in training crew members on helping land helicopters, and he was exceedingly proud when she became a MedEvac nurse.

“He was so super proud when I got on the flight team,” she said. “That was all he talked about.”

Hader said she remembers her father bringing fire engines to her schools as a child.

“I would always brag that you were my dad,” she said in a letter to her father, which Lee read aloud at the service.

Hader said her children, Dillon and Ashlee, and her sister’s son, Brandon, were “the highlight of his life,” and he loved watching the grandkids play sports.

“You will definitely have the best seat in the house for their sporting events, and cheer loudly,” Hader wrote in her letter.

Shaffer said it was just after their last trip to Canada earlier this year that Melby learned he had cancer again after beating it years ago. She said Melby passed away a month after his diagnosis and just a day after a party held in his honor, which about 150 people attended.

“He said, ‘I held on for that party, and I saw everyone I needed to see,’ ” Shaffer said.

When someone asked Melby how he was, he’d say, “Better than you think,” a phrase Shaffer said he used even as he was in the hospital last week. Shaffer said her father either preferred a Coors Light or a glass of Jack Daniels in his hand, and he always had a toothpick in his mouth.

Surrounding fire agencies pitched in, even taking over the garage fire, to make sure all Evans firefighters had the opportunity to honor their brother. To wrap up the memorial service, a dispatcher called his unit number — No. 41 — over the air three times.

“Evans Unit 41, Doug Melby, has answered his final call,” the dispatcher said.

Finally, Lee rang the bell outside Evans Community Complex three times to honor Melby, explaining that a bell would traditionally ring out three times to signify that a fire was over.

Shaffer said Melby’s family is grateful for how he was honored, from the procession with engines from Evans and across the county to the MedEvac helicopter that flew over the ceremony.

“They’ve just gone above and beyond because that was his second family,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer said her family and others noticed a few other signs Friday that show Melby is watching over them. She said she found a single toothpick sitting in a chair on her porch that morning, and firefighters said a single hummingbird was flying around the station. Hader said the last time they played volleyball — a favorite pastime of Melby’s — a double rainbow appeared above the court.

“I know you are not hurting anymore and you are having the time of your life, Coors Light or Jack Daniels in one hand and fishing rod in the other,” Shaffer wrote in her letter read aloud by Lee. “Until we meet again, Dad, live it up and fish on.”

He missed many birthdays and anniversaries and walked out on dinners to go save someone else’s life. — Michelle Shaffer, Melby’s daughter